Elon Musk's social media network X has caused major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
