The social media network X has sparked major outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
