The online platform X has provoked significant backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries 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 edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
