The online network X has sparked significant backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by taking off their garments.
Numerous cases have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
