Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked major backlash after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
