The social media network X has provoked significant backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action 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 sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
