The online network X has provoked major anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by stripping their garments.
Several examples have emerged where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
