Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous examples have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, 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 software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
