The social media network X has sparked major outrage after individuals employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
