The online network X has provoked major backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by taking off their attire.
Several cases have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for enabling users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
