The online network X has provoked significant outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
