The online network X has caused widespread outrage after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
