The social media platform X has sparked significant outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
