The social media network X has provoked widespread backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to give reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
