Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked major outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by removing their attire.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
