The social media platform X has caused significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by removing their clothing.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
