The online network X has caused widespread backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their garments.
Several cases have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
