The online network X has caused widespread outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
