The social media network X has sparked significant backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
