Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of women by stripping their clothing.
Several cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to make them appear in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office representative stated that legislation is being brought forward to prohibit nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said technology companies must "assess the risk" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a post.
It is often used to give reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also capable of alter an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The chatbot has been faulted for enabling users to create images and videos with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the creation and spread of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "showing images of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or distribute non-consensual intimate images or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate actions" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
