The social media network X has sparked major backlash after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by removing their attire.
Numerous examples have been seen where the system has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for allowing users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of people in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
