The online network X has caused significant backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
