The social media platform X has sparked significant backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
