Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked major backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their garments.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
