Elon Musk's online platform X has caused widespread outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the technology has been used to digitally undress women to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for features—which answers X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting images of people in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
