The social media network X has caused major outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of making graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
