Elon Musk's online network X has sparked major backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of females by taking off their garments.
Several cases have been seen where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to produce pictures and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "showing images of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
