The social media network X has sparked major anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to create images and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
