The online platform X has provoked major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their garments.
Several cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
