Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked widespread backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
