The online network X has caused major outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
