The social media platform X has caused widespread backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by stripping their garments.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
