The social media platform X has caused major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
