The social media network X has provoked major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
