Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked widespread backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter images of women by taking off their attire.
Several cases have been seen where the technology has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' queries when they reference it in a message.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can alter an posted image through its AI image editing function.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to create photos and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of individuals in a pornographic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were obligated to take "appropriate measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.
