The online network X has sparked significant backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their attire.
Several cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
