The social media network X has sparked major outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
