The online platform X has caused major backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their garments.
Numerous instances have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
