The social media network X has provoked significant outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to provide reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
