The online network X has caused significant outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
