The online network X has provoked significant anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their attire.
Several examples have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
