Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked major outrage after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the system has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
