The social media network X has provoked widespread backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple cases have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
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 spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
