The social media platform X has provoked major outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
