The online network X has sparked widespread anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their garments.
Several examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
