The social media network X has sparked major outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their garments.
Several cases have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
