The online network X has provoked major anger after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
