Elon Musk's online platform X has caused significant backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by removing their attire.
Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to provide reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
