The online platform X has caused significant outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by removing their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
