The online platform X has caused widespread backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for enabling users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
