The online network X has caused major anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their clothing.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
