Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to give reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to create pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
