The online platform X has provoked significant backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for a long time 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 people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
