The online platform X has caused significant anger after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by removing their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
