The online platform X has provoked significant anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
