The online platform X has caused widespread anger after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous cases have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "depicting images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
