The online network X has sparked significant anger after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by removing their attire.
Numerous instances 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 sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or more context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
