Elon Musk's online network X has caused significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by removing their attire.
Several cases have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The system has been criticised for permitting users to create photos and clips with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was earlier accused of making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
