Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to give commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
