The social media platform X has provoked widespread anger after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
