The social media platform X has sparked widespread backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by removing their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
