The social media network X has sparked major outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by taking off their attire.
Several cases have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
