The online platform X has caused widespread anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their garments.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to produce images and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
