The online platform X has caused widespread outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by removing their clothing.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
