Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked major outrage after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit image stripping tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting images of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
