The online platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous cases have been seen where the technology has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to provide reactions or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
