The social media network X has provoked widespread outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have emerged where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
