The online network X has provoked major backlash after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous cases 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 sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming 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 desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
