The online platform X has caused significant anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
