Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence 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 impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.
