Elon Musk's online network X has sparked major outrage after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by stripping their garments.
Several instances have been seen where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to offer commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded photo through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their services and to take down it quickly when they are notified of it.
