The online network X has caused widespread anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their attire.
Numerous examples have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
