Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked significant outrage after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate images of females by removing their garments.
Multiple examples have been seen where the tool has been used to virtually strip female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson 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 prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people seeing unlawful material on their networks, but did not confirm whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a no-cost artificial intelligence—with some paid-for functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and distribution of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and clarified this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "reduce the danger" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they learn of it.
