The social media network X has sparked significant outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images 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 bans "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
