The social media network X has sparked major backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their attire.
Several cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
