The online network X has provoked significant anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their attire.
Several cases have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
