Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked widespread backlash after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous instances have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to ban nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
