Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
