The social media network X has sparked major backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by stripping their garments.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
