The online platform X has sparked significant anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of females by taking off their attire.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate 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 regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to create pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
