The online network X has caused widespread anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
