The online platform X has caused significant outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
