The online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by removing their attire.
Several cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
