The online network X has caused major outrage after users used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by removing their attire.
Several cases have emerged where the system has been used to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to create pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful content on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
