The online platform X has sparked significant outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
