The online network X has caused major backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by removing their garments.
Several instances have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of persons in a graphic fashion".
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 created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
