The online network X has sparked significant outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
