Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant backlash after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.