The online network X has sparked significant outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their attire.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it quickly when they learn of it.
