The online platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
