Elon Musk's online network X has sparked widespread backlash after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, did not respond to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and heavy fines".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the potential" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or additional context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to produce photos and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic content of public figures.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and sharing of these images for months without taking any action and we have not seen any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they learn of it.
