The social media network X has sparked widespread anger after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by removing their attire.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
