Elon Musk's online network X has caused major anger after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of females by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have been seen where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized contexts.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a upcoming law, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some additional features—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to offer commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been enabling the creation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it swiftly when they learn of it.
