The online network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by removing their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
