Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their garments.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
