The online network X has sparked widespread anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
