Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their clothing.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of making graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
