Elon Musk's social media network X has sparked major outrage after people used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their clothing.
Multiple examples have surfaced where the tool has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without consent, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Company Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the firm behind Grok, remained silent to inquiries, other than an standard message stating "legacy media lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to prohibit nudification technology. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a prison sentence and substantial fines".
"The platform could prevent these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "seem to have a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was currently examining X or Grok in regarding AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which answers X users' prompts when they mention it in a message.
It is frequently used to give reactions or further context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of modify an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Controversy and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for allowing users to produce images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the creation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this included sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "minimize the risk" of users viewing unlawful material on their services and to remove it swiftly when they become aware of it.
