Elon Musk's online network X has caused major backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
