Elon Musk's social media network X has caused significant outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
