The social media network X has caused significant backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Several examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
