Elon Musk's online network X has caused major backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate photos of women by taking off their clothing.
Multiple instances have surfaced where the system has been used to digitally undress female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized situations.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to questions, except for an automatically-generated response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being introduced to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who distributed such tools would "be subject to a prison sentence and heavy fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "evaluate the potential" of people viewing illegal content on their services, but did not confirm whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more context to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of alter an uploaded picture through its AI image editing function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for months without taking any measures and we have yet to see any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing likenesses of individuals in a pornographic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or share non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said networks such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they are notified of it.
