Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant backlash after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
