The social media network X has caused significant anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their clothing.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
