The online platform X has caused significant outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
