The online network X has caused major anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by removing their attire.
Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
