Elon Musk's online network X has provoked widespread anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
