The online network X has provoked significant backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
