The online platform X has sparked major outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of females by removing their attire.
Numerous cases have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and videos with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
