The online network X has sparked significant backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
