The social media platform X has provoked major outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by taking off their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
