The online network X has sparked significant anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their attire.
Numerous examples have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
