Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked widespread anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of women by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to questions, aside from an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for enabling users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of people in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
