Elon Musk's online network X has caused major anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their garments.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
