The online platform X has provoked widespread outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their garments.
Several instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
