The social media network X has caused widespread outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to generate pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
