The social media network X has sparked widespread anger after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
