The social media platform X has provoked significant anger after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by removing their attire.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of creating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
