The online network X has provoked major backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
