The online network X has provoked major anger after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
