The online network X has caused major backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their attire.
Numerous cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or more background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "depicting images of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
