The social media network X has sparked significant anger after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
