The social media platform X has sparked major backlash after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Several instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed 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 chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
