The social media platform X has sparked major backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by removing their garments.
Several instances have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to create images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
