Elon Musk's online platform X has provoked major backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their clothing.
Numerous examples have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that legislation is being proposed to ban nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary steps" to "lessen the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
