Elon Musk's online platform X has caused significant anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to create images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures 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 "showing images of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
