The social media network X has caused major backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
