The online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
