The online network X has caused significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
