The online platform X has provoked widespread anger after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" 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 chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
