Elon Musk's social media network X has caused widespread outrage after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple instances have emerged where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, remained silent to questions, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The tool has been criticised for enabling users to create images and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of making inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
