The online network X has caused major outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
