Elon Musk's online network X has caused major anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
