Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their garments.
Multiple examples have been seen where the system has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, except for an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
