The online platform X has sparked widespread outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
