The online network X has caused significant backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by taking off their attire.
Several instances have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a jail term and heavy fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give commentary or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
