The social media network X has provoked significant outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to generate pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
