The online platform X has provoked significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.