The online network X has caused significant anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by removing their garments.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
