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The social media platform X has caused significant outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their attire.

Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate contexts.

Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position

XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".

"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."

Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.

It is frequently used to give reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.

Background of Criticism and Rules

The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making graphic material of public figures.

"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.

It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.