The social media network X has caused major outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by removing their garments.
Several examples have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention 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 modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
