The social media network X has sparked widespread backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to create images and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
