The social media network X has provoked significant backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
