The social media platform X has provoked widespread backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
