Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
