The online platform X has caused major outrage after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
