The online platform X has sparked significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by taking off their garments.
Several cases have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
