The online network X has provoked significant backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
