The online platform X has provoked widespread outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by removing their clothing.
Several cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to give reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
