🔗 Share this article

The online network X has provoked significant anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by removing their clothing.

Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.

Company Response and Regulatory Position

XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".

A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".

"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.

It is commonly used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.

History of Criticism and Rules

The system has been criticised for allowing users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.

"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.

It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.