The social media platform X has caused significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
