The social media network X has sparked widespread outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their garments.
Several examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
