The social media network X has caused significant outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
