The online platform X has caused widespread anger after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by taking off their clothing.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for enabling users to create images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
