The online network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
