The online network X has provoked major anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
