The online platform X has caused significant anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
