Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by stripping their attire.
Several instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to produce photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
