The online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing images of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
