The social media network X has caused widespread anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
