Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked widespread anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by taking off their garments.
Several cases have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
