The social media platform X has provoked widespread backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their garments.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
