Elon Musk's social media platform X has sparked major anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Developer Response and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a message.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "portraying images of persons in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
