The online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their garments.
Several examples have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce images and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
