The online network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by taking off their garments.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
