The social media platform X has provoked major backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
