The online network X has sparked significant anger after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Several examples have emerged where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
