Elon Musk's online network X has caused major outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
