The online platform X has caused significant anger after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
