The social media network X has provoked widespread outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their attire.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting images of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
