The social media platform X has caused major outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by stripping their garments.
Several instances have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
