The social media network X has provoked widespread anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.
