The online platform X has provoked major outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
