The social media platform X has sparked major backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by removing their garments.
Several cases have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
