The online platform X has caused major outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
