The online network X has caused significant outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
