The social media platform X has provoked widespread outrage after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by removing their attire.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of people in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
