The online platform X has sparked major outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Several cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
