Elon Musk's social media network X has provoked major outrage after users utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple instances have emerged where the technology has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office official stated that new laws is being introduced to prohibit nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of abuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning AI-generated images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to provide reactions or further context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The system has been faulted for permitting users to produce photos and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in creating sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this applied to sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
