The online platform X has caused significant backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of generating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
