Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple cases have emerged where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying images of persons in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to delete it swiftly when they are notified of it.
