The online network X has sparked widespread anger after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
