The online platform X has caused major anger after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of making graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
