Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Several examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
