Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by removing their attire.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
