The online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
