Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
