The online platform X has caused major anger after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
