The social media network X has sparked major backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of women by stripping their garments.
Multiple instances have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of people in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
