The social media network X has caused widespread outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by removing their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or share deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
