The social media network X has sparked major outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
