Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant outrage after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their attire.
Several examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
