The social media network X has caused significant anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their attire.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer reactions or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "depicting images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
