Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked significant outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by removing their clothing.
Several cases have surfaced where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to give reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they learn of it.
