Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for allowing users to create images and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across unlawful material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
