Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused major outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple examples have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
