Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their attire.
Multiple cases have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial fines".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "depicting images of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to take down it promptly when they learn of it.