Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused significant outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
