The social media network X has provoked major anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their attire.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
