The social media network X has provoked significant outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by removing their attire.
Several examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.
