The social media network X has caused widespread anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their garments.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
