Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked major anger after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their clothing.
Numerous instances have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit situations.
Developer Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a jail term and substantial fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some paid-for features—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to give reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to produce photos and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of making inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the generation and spread of these pictures for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
