The online platform X has provoked widespread anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
