The online network X has sparked widespread outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Several cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
