The online network X has sparked widespread outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by taking off their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
