Elon Musk's online network X has sparked major outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse 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 technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
