The online network X has sparked widespread anger after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
