The social media network X has caused major backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
