The online network X has provoked major backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have been seen where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and heavy penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to offer commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
