Elon Musk's social media network X has caused major outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by removing their garments.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the system has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to ban nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or share private pictures or illegal content" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
