The online platform X has sparked widespread outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous examples have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
