The social media network X has sparked significant anger after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for enabling users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
