The social media platform X has provoked significant anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
