Elon Musk's social media network X has caused widespread anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
