Elon Musk's online platform X has caused significant outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
