The social media network X has caused widespread anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
