Elon Musk's online platform X has caused significant backlash after people employed its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by taking off their clothing.
Numerous cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexualised material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in making inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
