The online platform X has sparked major backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
