The online network X has caused major anger after users employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change photos of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
