The online network X has provoked significant outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their garments.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
