The online platform X has provoked significant backlash after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous examples have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
