The social media platform X has sparked major outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their clothing.
Several cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
