Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
