The social media platform X has sparked widespread anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform 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," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
