Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked major anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to alter images of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate situations.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that new laws is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also able to alter an posted picture through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create images and footage with nudity and sexualised material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in making graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a sexually explicit way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or circulate private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the risk" of users coming across unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
