The social media platform X has provoked major backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
