Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked widespread backlash after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter photos of women by removing their clothing.
Numerous cases have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm that created Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they reference it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been faulted for allowing users to generate photos and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of people in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal content on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.
