The online network X has caused significant anger after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
