The social media platform X has provoked significant backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Several cases have emerged where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
