Elon Musk's online network X has provoked major outrage after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
