The social media network X has sparked major backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
