The online platform X has provoked widespread anger after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their garments.
Numerous instances have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
