The social media network X has provoked major anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
