The online network X has caused significant outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their garments.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
