The social media platform X has caused major backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
