The online platform X has sparked widespread anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
