Elon Musk's online network X has sparked major anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy 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 Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
