The online platform X has caused significant anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
