Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
