The online network X has sparked significant outrage after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
