The online platform X has caused significant outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to generate photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
