The social media network X has provoked widespread outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
