The online network X has caused widespread anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by stripping their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.