The social media platform X has sparked major outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
