Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their garments.
Numerous cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
