Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread outrage after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple examples have emerged where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in bikinis without permission, as well as to insert them in inappropriate contexts.
Developer Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "legacy media lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that legislation is being proposed to outlaw nudification tools. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "be subject to a jail term and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these types of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Regulator Stance and Tool Capabilities
The regulator Ofcom said technology companies must "consider the risk" of people viewing illegal content on their networks, but did not specify whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some additional features—which answers X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or further background to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing tool.
History of Controversy and Policy
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to produce pictures and footage with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier accused of creating graphic material of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any action and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "showing images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "generate or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate measures" to "reduce the danger" of users viewing unlawful material on their platforms and to delete it quickly when they are notified of it.
