The online platform X has provoked significant backlash after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their attire.
Several cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
