The social media platform X has caused major backlash after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of females by removing their garments.
Several instances have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
