The social media network X has sparked widespread anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous examples have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
