Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by stripping their garments.
Several cases have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
