The online platform X has provoked major backlash after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting images of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
