The social media network X has sparked widespread outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to give reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
