The social media network X has caused major outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to produce images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
