The online network X has sparked major outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their clothing.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to produce photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
