The social media network X has provoked significant backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
