Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused major backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
