Elon Musk's online network X has provoked major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their attire.
Several instances have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
