Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked major outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple examples have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
