Elon Musk's online network X has sparked major outrage after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by removing their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the system has been used to virtually strip women to show them in swimwear without consent, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional functions—which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to provide commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been criticised for allowing users to create pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating inappropriate content of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "generate or distribute non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were obligated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
