Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked widespread anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
