Elon Musk's online network X has caused major backlash after individuals used its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to manipulate pictures of women by taking off their attire.
Multiple cases have emerged where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in inappropriate scenarios.
Company Response and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, did not respond to requests for comment, aside from an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office spokesperson stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who distributed such technology would "be subject to a prison sentence and significant penalties".
"The platform could prevent these types of misuse if they desired 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 technology companies must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing illegal content on their platforms, but did not confirm whether it was at this time examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a free AI assistant—with some additional features—which responds to X users' queries when they mention it in a tweet.
It is frequently used to offer reactions or additional context to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature.
History of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been faulted for permitting users to create images and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier accused of generating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been allowing the production and sharing of these pictures for a long time without taking any measures and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "showing likenesses of persons in a graphic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "create or distribute deepfakes or illegal content" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "necessary steps" to "minimize the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to take down it swiftly when they become aware of it.
