The online platform X has sparked major outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by removing their attire.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
