The online platform X has provoked significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to ban image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
