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The social media platform X has sparked significant anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by removing their garments.

Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Company Response and Legal Stance

XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard response stating "legacy media lies".

A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."

Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.

Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.

It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.

History of Criticism and Policy

The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.

"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.

It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.