The social media network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by taking off their attire.
Several cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for enabling users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action 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 statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
