The online network X has caused significant backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned 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 generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
