The online platform X has caused widespread outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their attire.
Several cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
