The social media network X has provoked major backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous cases have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
