The social media platform X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
