The online network X has caused significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
