Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
