The online platform X has provoked major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their clothing.
Several instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
