The online platform X has provoked major backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
