Elon Musk's online network X has caused major anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
