The online network X has caused significant outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of people in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
