Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked major outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to give reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
