The social media platform X has caused significant outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by removing their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog 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 artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to produce pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"X has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
