The online platform X has provoked major anger after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their clothing.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to produce pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures 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 "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
