The social media network X has caused significant outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Numerous cases have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to give commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing images of people in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
