The social media network X has caused significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
