The social media network X has sparked major backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
