The online network X has provoked significant backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
