The online network X has caused widespread anger after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by stripping their garments.
Several cases have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
