The online network X has caused widespread backlash after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
