The online network X has sparked major outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by taking off their garments.
Several examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries 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 uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
