Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by stripping their garments.
Several instances have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
