Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked significant outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying images of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
