The online platform X has provoked widespread outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
