The social media network X has sparked significant anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their attire.
Several cases have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.
