The social media network X has sparked major outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
