The online platform X has provoked major outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
