The online platform X has caused widespread backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
