The social media network X has caused widespread backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Several examples have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
