The online network X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
