The social media network X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their garments.
Several instances have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
