Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by removing their clothing.
Several cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
