The online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
