The online network X has caused widespread backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their garments.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and distribution 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 prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
