Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their clothing.
Several examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
