The online platform X has caused major backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by removing their attire.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
