The online platform X has caused significant anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by removing their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
