Elon Musk's online network X has caused major outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they become aware of it.
