The online platform X has caused major anger after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
