The social media network X has provoked significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by stripping their attire.
Several cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to digitally undress women to render them in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
