Elon Musk's online network X has caused major anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"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 Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing images of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
