The social media network X has caused major backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by removing their attire.
Multiple examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
