Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked widespread anger after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
