The online network X has caused widespread backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by removing their clothing.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate photos and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
