The social media network X has provoked significant outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
