The social media network X has sparked major outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to provide reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
