The online network X has sparked major backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to give reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can 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 videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
