The online platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by taking off their garments.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to generate photos and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
