The online platform X has provoked widespread outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their attire.
Numerous examples have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to give commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share 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 mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
