The online platform X has caused major anger after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by removing their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
