The online network X has caused significant backlash after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by taking off their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
