Elon Musk's online network X has sparked significant backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to generate photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "lessen the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
