Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
