The social media platform X has sparked widespread backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by taking off their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
