Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major backlash after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their garments.
Multiple cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to create images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting images of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
