Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused widespread anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by taking off their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
