The online platform X has provoked widespread outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
