The online platform X has sparked widespread outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to offer commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute 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 "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
