The social media network X has sparked widespread anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
