The online network X has caused significant backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their attire.
Several instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for permitting users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
