The online network X has caused significant outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
