The online platform X has provoked major anger after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their attire.
Several instances have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to produce images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes 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 services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
