The social media network X has sparked widespread backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their garments.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to create images and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
