Elon Musk's social media platform X has caused widespread outrage after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple instances have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate situations.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification technology. Under a proposed law, anyone who provided such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the potential" of people accessing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or additional background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to produce photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of creating inappropriate material of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the production and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to take down it swiftly when they are notified of it.
