The online platform X has caused widespread anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by stripping their garments.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions 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.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
