The online platform X has provoked widespread anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their garments.
Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, 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 features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
