The online platform X has sparked widespread outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
