Elon Musk's social media network X has caused widespread backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
