The social media platform X has caused major outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by stripping their attire.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
