The social media platform X has caused widespread backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their garments.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
