The social media network X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their garments.
Several examples have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
