The online network X has caused widespread outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by taking off their attire.
Several instances have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' prompts when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to give commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
