The online platform X has sparked widespread backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by stripping their garments.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
