Elon Musk's online platform X has caused significant anger after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the danger" of people viewing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide commentary or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted image through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of public figures.
"The platform has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any action and we have not witnessed any action by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to take down it quickly when they become aware of it.
