The online platform X has caused significant outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by removing their attire.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
