The social media network X has provoked significant outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple examples have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for enabling users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making graphic material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
