The social media network X has sparked significant backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their attire.
Numerous cases have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to produce images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
