The social media network X has provoked widespread anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by taking off their attire.
Several cases have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing images of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
