The online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create photos and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
