Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked major anger after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
