The social media network X has sparked widespread backlash after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by stripping their garments.
Numerous cases have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
