The social media platform X has sparked significant backlash after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their garments.
Several cases have been seen where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
