The online network X has sparked major backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by taking off their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
