The social media platform X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by taking off their attire.
Several instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
