The online platform X has sparked major outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Several instances have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
