Elon Musk's online network X has sparked major outrage after people utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by taking off their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for permitting users to produce photos and videos with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
