The online network X has sparked significant outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
