The social media platform X has sparked major backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
