The social media platform X has caused significant outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for permitting users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing images of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
