The online network X has sparked major anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to give commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to generate photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
