The social media network X has caused widespread outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple cases have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
