The online network X has caused major anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop 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 Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to give commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
