The social media platform X has provoked major outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their garments.
Multiple cases have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
