Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked major backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by taking off their attire.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to give reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
