Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused major anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple instances have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
