The social media platform X has caused significant outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by stripping their garments.
Several instances have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
