The online platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
