The social media network X has provoked major outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple examples have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing images of people in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
