The social media network X has sparked widespread outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
