The social media network X has sparked widespread backlash after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their attire.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
