The social media network X has sparked widespread anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw image stripping software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to create images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.