The online platform X has caused major backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their garments.
Several cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to create images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
