The social media network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by stripping their garments.
Several examples have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action 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 way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
