The online platform X has sparked major backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create images and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
