The social media network X has provoked significant anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
