Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been condemned for permitting users to create pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "portraying images of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
