Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
