The online platform X has caused significant outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing images of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.