The online network X has caused major outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their clothing.
Several examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
