🔗 Share this article

The online platform X has provoked major backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their clothing.

Numerous instances have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance

XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".

A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban image stripping tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".

"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.

It is commonly used to provide commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.

History of Controversy and Rules

The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.

"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of people in a graphic manner".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.