The online platform X has provoked widespread outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
