The online platform X has caused significant backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
