Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked major backlash after individuals utilized its AI chatbot Grok to change pictures of females by taking off their clothing.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to make them appear in bikinis without consent, as well as to place them in sexualized scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, remained silent to questions, aside from an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A government representative stated that legislation is being proposed to prohibit nudification tools. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they wanted to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was at this time investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a post.
It is often used to offer reactions or further context to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can edit an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to generate images and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.
"X has been enabling the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate deepfakes or illegal content" and stated this included explicit AI images made with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "necessary actions" to "lessen the risk" of users viewing illegal material on their services and to delete it promptly when they learn of it.