The social media network X has caused significant backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their clothing.
Multiple examples have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
