The social media network X has provoked widespread backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming 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 desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
