The social media network X has provoked widespread outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
