The online platform X has caused widespread backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by taking off their attire.
Numerous examples have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to provide commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
