Elon Musk's social media platform X has provoked significant backlash after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by removing their clothing.
Several instances have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being brought forward to prohibit nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such tools would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or further background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for enabling users to produce photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making graphic content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "reduce the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
