The online network X has provoked major backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
