The social media network X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. 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 "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
