Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked major anger after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
