The online network X has caused widespread anger after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by stripping their clothing.
Several examples have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for enabling users to produce images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
