Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for allowing users to create pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
