The online network X has sparked significant outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
