Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their garments.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy 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."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
