The social media network X has sparked widespread anger after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple examples have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose 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 tech firms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
