The online platform X has caused major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by taking off their garments.
Several cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary 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 function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
