The online network X has caused widespread outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
