Elon Musk's social media network X has caused major backlash after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple examples have been seen where the tool has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being proposed to prohibit nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been condemned for permitting users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
