The social media platform X has caused significant anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their garments.
Numerous instances have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
