Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked widespread outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple cases have been seen where the system has been used to remove clothing from women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
