The online platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
