The online platform X has sparked significant outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit image stripping technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
