The social media network X has caused significant backlash after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
