The social media network X has caused widespread anger after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by removing their garments.
Numerous cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
