The social media network X has sparked major backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
