The social media network X has sparked widespread outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
