Elon Musk's online network X has provoked significant anger after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to questions, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing likenesses of persons in a sexually explicit way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
