Elon Musk's online network X has caused major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying images of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
