Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
