The online network X has provoked major outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by taking off their clothing.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce pictures and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of people in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
