The social media platform X has sparked significant backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by removing their attire.
Several instances have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for allowing users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
