The social media platform X has provoked significant anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their garments.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
