The social media platform X has caused widespread backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
