The online platform X has sparked significant backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
