The social media platform X has provoked widespread anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to produce photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
