Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple examples have emerged where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to give reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
