The online platform X has provoked significant anger after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
