The social media network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple cases have emerged where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
