Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked widespread anger after individuals used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple instances have emerged where the technology has been used to virtually strip women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to put them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, except for an automatically-generated message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who provided such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in regarding AI-generated images.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they tag it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to give commentary or further context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted photo through its AI image editing function.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been faulted for permitting users to produce images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images created with AI.
It said services such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
