The online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have been seen where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
