The online network X has sparked significant backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
