The online platform X has caused major backlash after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
