Elon Musk's online network X has caused major anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by removing their garments.
Several cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
