Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
