Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
