The social media network X has caused widespread backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple instances have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
