The social media platform X has caused major outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
