The online network X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Several instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
