Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant backlash after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to create images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
