The online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
