🔗 Share this article

The online platform X has caused major outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by taking off their attire.

Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Developer Reaction and Legal Stance

XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."

Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities

The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.

It is commonly used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.

Background of Controversy and Policy

The system has been faulted for enabling users to create pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit content of public figures.

"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".

In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.

It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.