The online platform X has sparked significant anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
