The social media network X has sparked major outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
