The online network X has provoked major backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their garments.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
