The social media network X has provoked significant backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
