The social media platform X has provoked significant anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous examples have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to produce photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
