Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked major anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their attire.
Several cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
