The social media network X has sparked major backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their clothing.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
