The online network X has caused significant anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
