The social media network X has caused widespread outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their attire.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
