The online platform X has provoked major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their garments.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
