Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked significant anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
