The online network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests 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 edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
