The online network X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
