The social media network X has provoked major anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their attire.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
