The online platform X has caused major anger after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
