Elon Musk's social media network X has caused major outrage after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by taking off their clothing.
Several examples have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
