The social media network X has caused significant anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
