Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Several examples have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been faulted for enabling users to create pictures and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the creation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
