The social media platform X has sparked major anger after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple cases have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
