The social media network X has caused significant outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
