Elon Musk's online network X has caused widespread outrage after people employed its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate images of women by taking off their attire.
Numerous examples have surfaced where the system has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexualized situations.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company responsible for Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an auto-reply response stating "legacy media lies".
A government spokesperson stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification technology. Under a new law, anyone who supplied such technology would "be subject to a jail term and substantial penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Capabilities
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people accessing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they mention it in a message.
It is commonly used to give commentary or additional context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also can modify an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of making sexually explicit material of public figures.
"X has been permitting the production and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "portraying likenesses of individuals in a graphic way".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images created with AI.
It said networks such as X were required to take "suitable steps" to "lessen the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
