The social media network X has sparked significant anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous cases have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
