The online network X has caused widespread anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
