The online platform X has provoked significant backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Several cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
