The online platform X has sparked major outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
