Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by stripping their attire.
Several examples have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to produce photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
