Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to create pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
