The online network X has caused major backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have emerged where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing images of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
