The social media platform X has sparked significant backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their attire.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to give reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
