The online network X has sparked significant anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their garments.
Several instances have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.