The social media platform X has sparked major backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
