The social media network X has sparked major outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
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 currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.
