The social media platform X has provoked widespread backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple cases have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
