The online platform X has caused widespread backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their garments.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
