Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused major backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for enabling users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service bans "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they become aware of it.
