Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked major anger after users utilized its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate pictures of females by stripping their clothing.
Multiple cases have emerged where the tool has been used to virtually strip women to render them in bikinis without consent, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit situations.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, did not respond to inquiries, aside from an auto-reply message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification technology. Under a upcoming law, anyone who distributed such technology would "face a prison sentence and heavy penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "evaluate the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their platforms, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to offer reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also capable of modify an posted photo through its AI image editing feature.
History of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for enabling users to produce images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of celebrities.
"The platform has been permitting the production and distribution of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have not witnessed any intervention by regulators," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or share private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were mandated to take "suitable measures" to "minimize the risk" of users encountering unlawful material on their platforms and to remove it promptly when they become aware of it.
