The social media platform X has caused widespread backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to produce pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
