The online platform X has caused major outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
