The online platform X has provoked significant backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
