The online platform X has caused major outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by stripping their garments.
Several instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting images of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.