The online network X has sparked major anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by taking off their attire.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
