The social media network X has sparked major backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by removing their attire.
Several cases have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
