Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by removing their attire.
Several examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
