Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked major backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform 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."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to produce photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.
