The social media platform X has provoked widespread anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
