The online platform X has provoked major outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
