The social media platform X has provoked widespread outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
