The online platform X has sparked significant anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple examples have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to generate images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
