The online network X has provoked major backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their clothing.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
