The online platform X has sparked significant anger after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
