The online network X has caused significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous instances have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
