The online network X has caused major outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
