Elon Musk's online network X has provoked widespread backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by removing their garments.
Several examples have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit 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 yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
