The online platform X has caused major anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they learn of it.
