The online platform X has caused widespread backlash after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
