The social media network X has caused significant backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
