The online network X has sparked major outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by removing their clothing.
Several cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
