The online network X has sparked major outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their clothing.
Several examples have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to generate photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
