The online platform X has caused widespread backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
