The social media network X has provoked significant backlash after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous examples have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
