The online network X has sparked significant anger after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
