The online platform X has sparked major anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their garments.
Several instances have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
