The online network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
