The online network X has provoked widespread backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple instances have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
