Elon Musk's social media network X has caused significant outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of making graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful content on their services and to remove it promptly when they learn of it.
