The online platform X has sparked significant outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by taking off their attire.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give reactions or further background to other posters' comments, 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 condemned for permitting users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
