The social media platform X has caused widespread anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their attire.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
