The online platform X has provoked widespread outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by taking off their garments.
Several cases have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing images of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
