Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
