The social media platform X has sparked widespread outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
