The social media network X has sparked major backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by taking off their attire.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
