Elon Musk's online network X has provoked major outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of females by stripping their garments.
Several examples have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the company behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, other than an auto-reply response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification tools. Under a upcoming law, anyone who supplied such technology would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which answers X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The chatbot has been criticised for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier accused of creating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules bans "showing images of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or circulate private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.
