The online platform X has caused widespread backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their attire.
Several examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create images and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
