The social media network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their attire.
Several instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material 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 features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
