The online network X has sparked widespread anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by stripping their attire.
Several examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
