The social media network X has provoked widespread backlash after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess 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 images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
