The social media platform X has caused significant backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their clothing.
Several examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to produce images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
