The social media platform X has sparked major backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
