The online platform X has sparked significant outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple instances have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
