The online network X has caused significant outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to generate pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
