The social media platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
