The online network X has provoked major backlash after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
