The social media network X has sparked significant anger after people used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of females by taking off their garments.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
