Elon Musk's online platform X has caused significant outrage after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Several cases have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to generate pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
