The online platform X has caused major backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to give reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of people in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
