Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked major backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to create images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
